Elder Hatziflourentzos Patsias of Milia (+ 1969)

Pappou Hatziflourentzos (Flourentzos Michael Patsias, “Hatzimounas”): The Glory of Milia

By Antonis Antoniou

Elder Hatziflourentzos was born in the village of Milia, in the Famagusta district of Cyprus, in 1901. His faith in and love for God were great. His exceptionally ascetic way of life and prophetic words made him seem like a madman. He never attended school and, for a large part of his life, did not know how to read. At first, he made no effort in the spiritual life and lived an ordinary worldly existence. Then, however, a seemingly insignificant incident became the occasion for his soul to be enlightened and filled with divine longing for our Lord and for every spiritual virtue.

When he was about forty years old, moved by divine zeal, he began cautiously to examine and study the sacred books of the Church. Before long, he had learned to read. He worked as a farmer and livestock breeder, and later took up various other occupations, including that of a mason and a farrier. He married a quiet woman from Milia named Annezu, and together they had six children: five sons and one daughter.

In 1945, he went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, from which he received the name Hatzis. After he had married off three of his six children, his divine longing led him first to the Monastery of the Apostle Barnabas near Varosha and later to the Monastery of Stavrovouni, where he wished to become a monk. The abbots of both monasteries, however, refused to receive him because he was married and still had unmarried children.

Synaxis of the Holy Hierarchs of Kythrea

In 2018, the 17th of May, the feast day of Saint Athanasios of Chytri, the Holy Synod of the Church of Cyprus established also the Synaxis of all the Holy Bishops of Kythrea (ancient Chytri) to be honored together.

For the first Bishop of Chytri (today known as Kythrea), Saint Pappos the Confessor, there is no information concerning his place of origin. He was ordained bishop in 309 A.D. He is characterized as a confessor, because he was persecuted and tortured during the persecutions, from which he survived. He enjoyed great respect among the other bishops and the flock, because of his life and his age. For this reason, in 367 A.D., after the repose of the Bishop of Salamis (Constantia), that is, the Archbishop of Cyprus, the Bishops of Cyprus ask Saint Pappos, being already a bishop for 58 years, to propose the new archbishop.

Saint Pappos withdraws, prays fervently, and a heavenly voice reveals to him what he must do. Thus, accompanied by three bishops and two deacons, he goes to the marketplace of Salamis, where he finds the monk Epiphanios buying grapes, accompanied by 2 other monks. Epiphanios was from Palestine, became a monk in Egypt, founded a Monastery in Palestine, and came to Cyprus, where he visited Saint Hilarion the Great, who was practicing asceticism near the village of Episkopi of Paphos. Epiphanios was preparing to depart from Cyprus.

Saint Epiphanios as a Bishop in Cyprus

By Dr. Georgios Kakkouras, 
Doctor of Theology, Secondary Education Teacher of Religious Studies

“Epiphanios the Great, the renowned Archbishop of Salamis or Constantia, is rightly considered one of the most illustrious adornments of the Church of Cyprus” (History of the Orthodox Church of Cyprus, Hackett–Papaioannou).

Nevertheless, he was not Cypriot by origin. He was born in Eleutheroupolis of Palestine to parents who were Christians(?) of Hebrew or Greek descent. He devoted himself with unusual zeal to learning and acquired a rich theological and literary education. He knew five languages — Greek, Hebrew, Latin, Syriac, and Coptic — something astonishing for that period, when no special methods for teaching languages existed.

His life was written by three biographers, two of whom are identified as his disciples, and for this reason there are many sources concerning his life and work. At a young age he entered the monastic life and became a disciple of the great ascetic Saint Hilarion. Thus the ascetic monastic element characterized his entire later life.

Saint Thyrsos, Bishop of Karpasia, the Anchorite

By Archimandrite Photios Ioakeim

Among the multitude of holy bishops who illuminated the invisible firmament of the Church of Cyprus, is included the select circle of holy shepherds of the Diocese of Karpasia, within which our God-bearing Father Thyrsos, Bishop of Karpasia, the anchorite, undoubtedly holds a prominent place. The other co-enthroned holy bishops of Karpasia are our God-bearing Fathers Philon, Synesios and Sosikrates.

The surviving historical-literary sources for the person and life of Saint Thyrsos are unfortunately meager. For example, he is not included in the so-called Synodikon of Orthodoxy of the Church of Cyprus — as are certainly not included several bishops of the island, known from other sources. The oldest hagiological source for Saint Thyrsos is the so-called Penteorton manuscript of the Karpasite monk Akakios, which he wrote in 1733 and in which he included Services and short synaxaria of five saints of the Diocese of Karpasia, among whom was Saint Thyrsos. The same traditions and similar Services to the manuscript of Akakios are also included in the manuscript of the Metropolis of Kition, written in 1805 by Antonios Teirmentzoglou, a pilgrim, who in this case copies Akakios, but in a free manner.

  

Holy New Martyr Jonah the Protopsaltis (+ 1821)

The Holy New Martyr Jonah was the Protopsaltis of the Cathedral Temple of the Panagia in Ayia Napa, Limassol of Cyprus.

He was decapitated on July 10, 1821, the day after the sacrifice of the Holy Ethnomartyr Archbishop Kyprianos of Cyprus and the three Metropolitans with him: Chrysanthos of Paphos, Meletios of Kition, Laurentios of Kyrenia.

Saint Synesios, Patron of Rizokarpaso

Saint Synesios is the patron saint of the town of Rizokarpaso (Dipkarpaz) in Cyprus, to whom the main church of the community, located in the central square of the village, is dedicated. This church is one of the Orthodox churches that have been operating continuously since 1974 in the occupied territories, without being desecrated or converted into a mosque, due to the stay of priest Zacharias Georgiou in the community and the Greek Cypriots trapped there.

The church dates back to the 12th century AD and is characterized as one of the most important ecclesiastical monuments of historical value in the community. It is built next to the cave that Bishop Synesios of Karpasia asceticized within and sanctified. The cave is still remembered in the oral memories of the community's residents as the "Cave of Saint Synesios".

Saint Philon of Karpasia as a Model for our Lives

St. Philon, Bishop of Karpasia (Feast Day - January 24)

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

Saint Philon was born in Karpasia, Cyprus, in the 4th century AD and was the spiritual child of Saint Epiphanios, Archbishop of Constantia, Cyprus, who, appreciating his many gifts, ordained him Bishop of Karpasia. In fact, he esteemed him so much that, when he needed to be absent, he appointed him as his replacement on the Archbishopric throne. For example, when he traveled to Rome in 382 AD for ecclesiastical matters and later in Constantinople in 401 AD, shortly before his death, he assigned him the administration of the Archbishopric and, moreover, with the right to ordain Clergy.

The Karpasia region is the peninsula located at the northeastern tip of Cyprus, in which valuable Sacred Temples dedicated to the memory of Saint Philon were built at times, with characteristic frescoes, which, unfortunately, were removed after the Turkish invasion of 1974, and the Sacred Temples remain looted and abandoned.

Saint Thyrsos of Karpasia - Life, Miracles and the Story of His First Icon

By Dr. George Kakkouras

Information about Saint Thyrsos, unfortunately, is scarce.1 These mainly come from the well-known manuscript of Monk Akakios of Karpasia and the Service of the Saint, which is the work of the same Akakios.

Akakios says the following about this lack of information: "Like Saint Philon, the Bishop of Karpasia, where he performed so many miracles, and they are not seen recorded, and like Saint Synesios, who was also a hierarch of Karpasia, whose life cannot be found in any book, or printed, or handwritten manuscript to be seen, and we only have it by word of mouth."2 Likewise little information is provided by the living local tradition concerning Saint Thyrsos.

Saint Thyrsos in the local dialect is also called Therissos. When he lived is unknown, though he is remembered as the third Bishop of Karpasia after the other two well-known and famous bishops of Karpasia, Philon and Synesios.

Saint Plutarch of Cyprus as a Model for our Lives

St. Plutarch, Archbishop of Cyprus (Feast Day - June 5)

By Protopresbyter Fr. George Papavarnavas

Saint Plutarch was the Archbishop of Constantia in Cyprus and lived at the end of the 6th and the beginning of the 7th century. He is included among the Orthodox Archbishops of Cyprus, since Constantia was then the "Metropolis" of the Great Island (Megalonisos). He is number thirteen in the list of Archbishops, and is listed among the Saints of Cyprus. He is not mentioned in the Synaxaria, but is mentioned in the "Chronicle" of the medieval chronicler Leontios Machairas, as well as in the chronicles handed down by Strambaldi and Florio Bustron.

Saint Plutarch occupied the see of Constantia from 590 to 625/6 A.D. and he is also known from the epigraphic evidences that have survived, those related to the construction of parts of the aqueduct of Constantia, which mention him as a builder. Specifically, he is mentioned as the builder of three arches of the aqueduct in 620, and other arches of an unspecified number in 621, and fifteen arches in 625. This fact, among others, shows that the Saint was interested not only in the spiritual needs of his rational flock, but also for the material ones, since, after all, man is a psychosomatic being.